Production of electron-positron pairs by a photon in the radiation-dominated universe

The production of an arbitrary number of electron-positron pairs by a photon in a spatially flat Robertson-Walker universe with expansion law a(t) = ao√t is considered. In Minkowski space, this process is forbidden by conservation laws. The total probability of the process and the mean number of Dirac particles produced as the result of photon decay are calculated and analyzed as functions of the primary-photon energy. The expressions obtained in this study are compared with the results of calculation of photon emission from the vacuum. The massless limit of the total probability of the process is considered. Numerical estimates are obtained for the mean number of particles produced in photon decays in the early universe. These estimates show that the production of Dirac particles in photon decays dominates over their production in photon emission from the vacuum and over their production from the vacuum of a free spinor field. 21 refs., 2 figs